Hardware comparing capacity of replacement dsi xl batteries in 2024

[bellisornot]

here are my results! ill probably test more batteries in the future as im getting a mah tester. sad to see this from ifixit

 

[Nikokaro]

Do you mean that one original, old, used battery lasts longer than the other two new ones? Well, that doesn't surprise me all that much, given the poor quality of all (now exclusively chinese-made) batteries in recent years.

 

[mep]

Very interesting thank you. I do not know what you mean exactly by "cycled from 100%" but if I understand correctly you took the cells from 100% charge to 0% before testing.

My understanding is this should not be done with lithium-ion batteries since they will degrade if used at less than 20% charge. We do not need to cycle these batteries like we did with the old alkaline ones. For maximum efficiency lithium batteries should be kept between 20% and 80% of charge.

 

[bellisornot]

Very interesting thank you. I do not know what you mean exactly by "cycled from 100%" but if I understand correctly you took the cells from 100% charge to 0% before testing.

My understanding is this should not be done with lithium-ion batteries since they will degrade if used at less than 20% charge. We do not need to cycle these batteries like we did with the old alkaline ones. For maximum efficiency lithium batteries should be kept between 20% and 80% of charge.

you are very correct, however it is widely speculated that cycling li-ion batteries that have been in storage can essentially clean off a mineral layer that forms from nonuse, giving back a small amount of capacity. it was primarily done to ensure each battery was given the same parameters, charged to 100%, discharged to 0%, then charge back to 100% and begin testing

 

[SylverReZ]

My understanding is this should not be done with lithium-ion batteries since they will degrade if used at less than 20% charge. We do not need to cycle these batteries like we did with the old alkaline ones. For maximum efficiency lithium batteries should be kept between 20% and 80% of charge.

If you keep the DS on charge all of the time, then the batteries will degrade quite quickly.

Looks like the iFixIt battery is the same cheap Chinesium one from here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32230397582.html

 

[bellisornot]

here is some interesting and useful information about charging li-ion batteries as well as some information regarding storing batteries in general

 

[mep]

you are very correct, however it is widely speculated that cycling li-ion batteries that have been in storage can essentially clean off a mineral layer that forms from nonuse, giving back a small amount of capacity. it was primarily done to ensure each battery was given the same parameters, charged to 100%, discharged to 0%, then charge back to 100% and begin testing

Thank you for the explanation, I was not aware of this mineral layer.

Should we expect that these DS replacement batteries have been in storage for a long time? Would make sense since not many people would buy this product. Aside from this mineral layer phenomenon which I understand to be reversible, maybe the low capacity of these third-party batteries come from the long storage time?

As a side note, a friend recently bought a brand new Nintendo Switch and it was sitting in the box at 70% capacity so apparently not the best practices from Nintendo.